You know, i've been a Fleury go for so long but Conklin won this game all by himself. Could you imagine if Crapourin is in there tonight? Just an outstanding game. I'm sorry, two months is just too long to be a fluke.

Wow. We still win handily without Hossa and Crosby things are looking good. Everyone is stepping up. As Greg Wyshinski said the pens are grabbing their conk and going for it all this year. In saying that I will miss Colby it won't be the same, but that's life.

Fleury will have to ride the pine for at least 1 more game....there's no way you can sit Conk after that performance

Guess the NYI didn't Commit to the Indian-[Fellow, behind the bench tonight]

Congrats Jesse James on NHL goal #1...now, get back in that cab & off to WB/S you go....the meter's running....

tough 'break' for Scuds...he was playing the best hockey of his life [wink,wink]

was waiting to see Gerard Gallant on the Isles bench with clear tape on his face with a big splotch of blood above his eye like EJ had back in that playoff game in the mid 90's [& I thought Gallant was a tough guy]

can't wait to see this guy 'Hossa' v. the B's on Thurs. that everyone seems to be excited about. I think someone mentioned he's pretty good.

Over / Under on how many times Errey says: "Hal Gill is big" : 8 [I'll take the over]

that's all for me for a Mental-Health [Trade-Deadline] Day that started at 700a with a sleeve of Thin-Mints cookies with milk along with the TSN crew on TV & will end in bed watching the conclusion of DET/EDM & NHL on the Fly to see the Pens deals just one.more.time.

Connor james has a nice story to tell his kids now eh.can't wait for tuesday. the only question now is does he play with Malkin and Malone. MT should try that. Sykora with Staalsie and Talbot would work in my mind or maybe Staal and Taffe.

I used to hate Taffe but he has blossomed into more than a worthless piece of junk

This is a bit lengthy, but bear with me. Thoughts after having some more time to go over all this...

1. You won't find many bigger fans of Armstrong out there than myself. He was simply one of my favorite Pens ever - right up there with Saint Ron, Sid, Kovy, Classic Marty Straka, Geno, Boughner, Jagr, Barnaby and Hedberg. He had a role on this team that far exceeded being just a good guy in the locker room, Sid's best friend, etc. He embraced his role. He embraced the fans throughout the entire organization. He played his role well. I'd like to think from a hockey standpoint that he can be easily replaced, but he can't...at least not all that easily. He was very good at what he did.

2. What makes today difficult is that Armstrong is one of those guys many of us became attached to...he was part of that extended core that was drafted together, came up through the minors together and then captured the hearts of the fans through some very inspired play. He's part of that whole group that will forever be intertwined with the team that took the town by storm during that second half of the 05-06 season, took us to our first playoff experience under this new chapter of Penguins hockey last year, and helped carry the team this far this year. Under a perfect world or Hollywood script, this was all supposed to come together with this core that we've come to love all winning the Cup together, and Army would've been one of the first few to carry that Cup around the arena. He was one of those guys that many of us definitely wanted to continue to be a part of this thing.

3. Speaking for myself, I've gone from disliking the deal at first because I thought we gave up too much (saying that as objectively as possible) to really coming around and being excited about it. Hossa is as good a winger as we're going to get without giving up a major piece of the puzzle, and for as much a fan as I was of him, Army wasn't as big a piece of the puzzle as some other guys were. This is a huge deal...the biggest deal this team has made since I've become a diehard fan. One day, we could very well look back on in much the same way that we look back on the Francis and Tocchet deals.

4. There's definitely a way this club can afford to sign Hossa without falling into the Tampa "Big Three" trap. Shero is going to need to significantly front-load Hossa's deal. Even when Malkin signs an extension this summer, he'll still likely play at a significantly lower cap cost in 08-09; his big cap hit won't hit until 09-10 (much the same way Sid's cap hit is only $3.7M this year and won't kick in to $8.7M until next year). Staal may be in the same boat. Letang's big cap hit on his extension probably wouldn't come until 2010-11.

So it might make sense for Shero to front-load Hossa's deal, structure most of the salary to be paid to Hossa over the first few years of the deal and take advantage of the lower respective cap hits for guys like Geno, Staal and Letang.

5. In addition, perhaps Gonchar is moved between the 08-09 and 09-10 seasons to free up some space. He'll only have two years left on his deal after this year and at a $5 million a year cap hit, he's practically a bargain. There'll be plenty of ways to free up money to make this happen.

6. Dupweeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

7. I don't know what I'm more excited to see - the reaction of Sens fans when we show up Saturday with Marian Hossa in tow, or the reactions of Pens fans Sunday when Army and EC come back.

8. Silver lining: I always wanted to get an Armstrong jersey and now that he's gone, it'll just be a matter of time before PenStation has them on sale for like $85 or something. Woooooooo!

Author: daveinthebay41If the Pens had a goalie, and I hate to say this as a Sabres fan, I'd say they would be favourites to come out of the east for the Cup. But they don't have a goalie, so it's still anyones conference to win or lose. Don't think for a second that Pittsburgh won't be looking for a quality netminder July 1.

He must have missed the 3 games against his Buffalo Slugs when Conklin absolutely owned them... Or he blocked the games out due to it being a traumatic event. Either way i'm pretty sure Conklin is a "quality netminder" in true Pensblogese: daveinthebay = joke

What the hell is up with Minnesota. Why have Fedoruk, Boogard, and Simon. I think it's a strange combo that won't produce many goals but sure would scare the hell out of me if i had to play against them.